Chapter 157: The Emissary’s Trap
After his bloodline stabilized, the Sovereign’s Pavilion hummed with new, dense spiritual energy.
A fragile peace settled over the estate. In the courtyard, Lin Tian practiced the Moonfrost Sword Dance, feeling the boundaries of his Earth Spirit Realm power.
Xueya watched serenely from the veranda, holding cool tea, while inside, Su Lan cross-referenced ancient herbs against her database, muttering about catalytic reagents.
The peace shattered with the sound of hurried footsteps on the gravel path.
A Discipline Hall disciple, one of the newer ones assigned to their perimeter, bowed at the garden’s edge, his face pale. "Young Master Lin. Forgive the intrusion. An emissary has arrived at the main gate. She demands an audience."
Xueya set her cup down with a soft click. "Demands?"
"She bears the sigil of the Golden Silkworm Sect," the disciple said, swallowing. "She says her business is neutral, and urgent."
Su Lan appeared in the doorway, a scroll in her hand. "The Golden Silkworm? They’re recluses. Weavers, alchemists. They don’t ’demand’ anything. They trade."
"Perhaps they want trade," Lin Tian said, sheathing his sword. Suspicious timing, given the Elder’s decree. "Where?"
"Reception hall," the disciple replied. "Elder Shen is observing."
Observing, not mediating. Lin Tian exchanged looks with Xueya. Her Ice Fairy mask returned. Su Lan’s lips thinned. It was his problem.
"Let’s see what the silkworms want," he said.
****
The reception hall was a place of cold beauty, all pale blue marble and carved ice motifs. Elder Shen Ruoyi stood near a window, a silent statue in gray and white. She gave Lin Tian the slightest nod as he entered, her gaze fixed on their guest.
The emissary from the Golden Silkworm Sect was waiting in the center of the room.
She was beautiful in a way that felt deliberate, like a carefully arranged bouquet. Her hair was the color of raw silk, a pale, shimmering gold that fell in a perfectly straight sheet to her waist.
It didn’t look like hair at all, but like strands of polished amber. Her robes were a simple, elegant cut of muted saffron, but they seemed to drink the light, giving her figure a soft, blurred outline.
When she turned to face him, Lin Tian felt the System jolt in his mind before he even registered her eyes.
High Compatibility Detected — Candidate 3. Insect Spirit Root affinity: Weaver-Class. Warning: Hostile Intent Detected. Proceed with extreme caution.
The words were a cold splash against his thoughts. He kept his face blank, his steps even as he walked toward her.
Her eyes were liquid amber, fracturing light like a dragonfly’s compound vision.
"Young Master Lin Tian," she hummed, voice smooth yet unsettling. "I am Li Yao. Thank you for receiving me." She bowed with a fluid, unnatural grace.
Lin Tian did not return the gesture. "You claimed urgency. We don’t know your sect."
"We prefer quiet work," she replied, her smile failing to reach those multifaceted eyes. "We weave the threads others ignore. We have watched your ascent with interest."
"Get to the point," Su Lan snapped from the doorway.
Li Yao dismissed them with a glance. "A trade: information for a future favor."
"What information?"
"We possess a Progenitor relic," Li Yao said, letting the words hang. "It is dormant, requiring a unique cultivator to harmonize its power. One capable of melding opposing forces."
Lin Tian said nothing. He just watched her.
"Our searches have identified a potential key," Li Yao continued, her humming voice dropping to a confidential tone. She took a half-step closer. He could smell her now, a scent like honey and sandalwood, with a faint, acrid undertone of something chemical.
"A young woman. A rare soul with a spirit root compatible with such a task. We believe she could be of immense value to someone building a... coalition of power."
Candidate 3. The System’s warning pulsed in his skull.
"You’re offering to give me a person," Lin Tian stated.
"We offer a location, not a person," she smiled perfectly. "Do as you wish with her. In return, we just need access to study the awakened Progenitor relic for one month. We seek understanding."
It was a good offer. A great offer. It played directly to everything he was doing—finding linked partners, gathering Progenitor fragments. It sounded like a gift from heaven.
And the System was screaming hostile intent.
"Why come to me?" Lin Tian asked, tilting his head. "The Azure Snow Sect has many powerful disciples. The Sect Master himself. Why offer this to an outsider with... provisional status?"
Li Yao chuckled. "The Mandate isn’t provisional. You’re a unique variable; the weapon and candidate require your specific nature. We’re merely connecting a destined pattern." She stepped closer, locking eyes with him.
"You need more threads to survive what’s coming; we offer the next one." Her hand rose, gesturing toward his chest. As her sleeve fell, faint hexagonal, honeycomb-like patterns pulsed beneath her flawless skin.
Insect Spirit Root manifestation confirmed. Weaver-Class specializes in spiritual entrapment and energy siphon.
So, the plan: they want the key, not the weapon. Use the candidate to bait me, lower my guard, then have this weaver entangle me and drain my core dry.
He felt no anger, only a sharp, focused interest. A new kind of challenge.
"This candidate," he said, his voice deliberately neutral. "Where is she?"
"That is the heart of the matter," Li Yao murmured. She leaned in slightly, her honey-sandalwood scent enveloping him.
"She is in a dangerous place. A region contested by several... less scrupulous sects. I have the coordinates here." She produced a small, golden jade slip from her sleeve. It pulsed with a soft, warm light.
"I can take you there. Myself. My sect’s methods of travel are discreet. We could leave within the hour."
Alone. With her. The trap was so obvious it was almost insulting.
Elder Shen shifted by the window, a silent question in her posture. Xueya’s cold aura spiked a fraction. Su Lan was practically radiating heat.
Lin Tian reached out and took the jade slip. His fingers brushed against Li Yao’s. Her skin was warm, dry, and unnaturally smooth.
Contact established. Low-level psychic probe detected. Attempting to map core energy pathways. Deflected.
He didn’t flinch. He held the slip, feeling the intricate spiritual script inside. It felt legitimate. The location was probably real. The candidate was probably real, too. That was what made the trap so good. The bait was genuine.
"The offer is interesting," Lin Tian said, pocketing the slip. "I’ll consider it. You’ll have my answer by dusk."
A flicker of something—annoyance?—passed through Li Yao’s compound eyes. She had expected immediate, greedy acceptance. "Time is a thread that can be cut, Young Master. The situation is fluid. I urge you to decide swiftly."
"I understand," he said, turning his back on her, a deliberate show of dismissal. "The disciple will show you to guest quarters. You may wait there."
He walked toward Xueya and Su Lan, feeling Li Yao’s thousand-faceted gaze on his back like the touch of a hundred tiny legs.
****
Back in the Sovereign’s Pavilion, the quiet was gone, replaced by a tense, buzzing energy.
"You are not going anywhere with that... that creature," Su Lan stated, her arms crossed. "Her spirit root smells wrong. It’s sticky."
"She’s a spider offering a fly," Xueya said, her voice like chipped ice. "The ’candidate’ is the web."
"I know," Lin Tian said, staring at the golden jade slip on the low table between them.
"Then the answer is no," Su Lan said.
"The answer isn’t no," he replied, looking up at them.
"The candidate is real. The System confirmed the compatibility. She’s a potential Linked Partner. And if the Golden Silkworm sect knows about her, others will, too. If we don’t get to her first, someone else will. Or the ’spider’ will decide we’re not biting and eliminate the bait entirely."
Xueya’s frown deepened. "So you walk into the trap."
"I see the trap," Lin Tian corrected. "That’s the difference. They think they’re honey-trapping a rising star blinded by power and lust. They don’t know about the System. They don’t know I can feel her hostility like a physical touch." He picked up the jade slip again.
"They’ve given us a real location. A real target. We use their plan, but we rewrite the ending."
Su Lan sat down heavily. "How?"
"We go," Lin Tian said. "But not alone. And not as their guests." A plan was forming, cold and precise. "Li Yao expects a lone, arrogant young master, easily manipulated. She’ll have contingencies for you two, of course. She’ll try to separate us. So we let her think she’s succeeding."
"You want us to hang back," Xueya said, understanding dawning.
"Follow unseen," he said, tapping his glowing wrist. "The Life Thread and Su Lan’s bond are tethers. You’ll track my position. We’ll turn their ambush into ours, seizing the candidate and crippling the spider’s web."
The silence returned, but now it was the silence before a hunt.
"It’s reckless," Su Lan muttered.
"It’s necessary," Xueya countered, her icy resolve mirroring his own. "They have made a move against us. We do not hide. We dismantle them."
Lin Tian nodded. He reached out through the bonds, not with words, but with a pulse of intent—a map, a strategy, a question.
He felt their agreement flow back, fierce and unwavering.
He stood up. "Then I’ll go give the beautiful emissary my answer."
He left the pavilion and walked back through the serene gardens, the golden slip a heavy weight in his hand. The late afternoon sun painted the peaks in shades of fire and blood.
Li Yao was waiting in the assigned guest courtyard, standing by a barren plum tree. She turned as he approached, her multifaceted eyes catching the dying light.
"You have considered," she said, her humming voice hopeful.
"I have," Lin Tian said, stopping before her. He let a calculated amount of eager interest show on his face, the hunger of a young man offered a secret treasure. "You’re right. I need every advantage. Take me to her."
The smile that spread across Li Yao’s face was radiant, triumphant. The perfect mask.
"Excellent," she purred, crushing a golden cocoon. Air shimmered as a portal tore open. "The way is ready. We step through; do not be afraid."
I’m not, Lin Tian thought, staring into the pulsating gateway. But you should be.
He stepped forward, and together, they vanished into the light.
End of Chapter 157
